Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
This past week has seen social media discussing the new documentary on Netflix, titled Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness.
One of the most popular subjects in the mini docuseries has seen viewers trying to crack the cold case of Carole Baskin’s husband.
One of the series’ 7 episodes focuses on Baskin and allegations that she had something to do with the death of her husband, Don Lewis. Lewis went missing in 1997 and, in 2002, was declared legally dead.
Now, Baskin is speaking out against the documentary and Netflix, claiming it’s full of fiction.
“The series presents this without any regard for the truth or, in most cases, even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims,” Baskin wrote in a statement on BigCatRescue.Org. “They did not care about the truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.”⠀
Baskin is the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary in Florida.
While Baskin is a big part ‘Tiger King,’ the overall story revolves around Joseph “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage’s arrest and conviction of several charges, including animal abuse and amurder-for-hire plot against Baskin.
“When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld) that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive,” Baskin continued. “There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers.”
Many viewers have suspected that Baskin used a meat grinder in order to get rid of her husband’s body. However, Baskin clears that rumor up in her statement, as she refuted claims made against her in the doc.
“Our meat grinder was one of those little tabletop, hand crank things like you’d have in your kitchen at home,” Baskin explained. “Meat had to first be cut into one-inch cubes like you see here to go through it. The idea that a human body and skeleton could be put through it is idiotic. But the Netflix directors did not care. They just showed a bigger grinder.”
Baskin also uploaded a photograph of the grinder to help support her case.
When asked about Baskin, who has been against the documentary since its release, ‘Tiger King,’ co-producers Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin told The Los Angeles Times, “I would just say we were completely forthright with the characters. With any project that goes on for five years, things evolve and change, and we followed it as any good storyteller does. We could have never known when we started this project that it was going to land where it did.”
